Links & Bits for 12/10/10

Five Artists Who Are Keeping the Soul in American Music (Colorlines)

It's notoriously difficult to define exactly what "soul" means, and even harder to pin down exactly what a soul singer looks, sounds or acts like. But what's certain is that for the better part of the past 40 years, it's infused virtually every popular genre of American music. And these days, it's enjoying a renaissance as both familiar and new artists break into the popular culture.

John Lennon: the last day in his life (The Guardian)

The flash-lit picture, snapped 30 years ago on a Manhattan street, froze a notoriously sinister moment. Amateur photographer and Beatles fan Paul Goresh had captured the first encounter between John Lennon and the killer who would, a few hours later, end the star's life. Goresh could not guess the significance of the scene when his camera shutter flickered, still less could he have predicted the impact it was to have on his life.

Venus Zine Shuts Down Print Operations (Paste)

It’s probably a given, but here at Paste, we love magazines. Especially those with smart, pop-cultural leanings. Which is why we’re pretty bummed to see another one fold.

And the WTF? award of the week goes to Nick Cave in NY Mag (via redlightpolitics)

I get criticized for a lot of what I write about, but as far as I’m concerned I’m actually standing up and having a look at what goes on in the minds of men, and I have the authority to talk about it because I’m a man. Women don’t have the authority because they don’t know what goes on in a man’s head, so largely what they say is kind of irrelevant. My songs and stories and books are character-driven, they talk about the way people are and the way men are and women are. I’m actually confronting certain issues that some women appear to feel are now redundant.